In this article, the author describes their digital conversion initiative at Mooresville Graded School District. The project has placed a MacBook Air laptop in the hands of every 3rd through 12th grader and their teachers in the district over the past four years, with over 5,000 computers distributed. But they believe their academic successes have…

Web usability focuses on design elements and processes that make web pages easy to use. A website for college students was evaluated for underutilization. One-on-one testing, focus groups, web analytics, peer university review and marketing focus group and demographic data were utilized to conduct usability evaluation. The results indicated that…

As the concept of distributed leadership and its concomitant organizational structures become more prevalent in schools, studying how teacher capacity can be enhanced and can be used as a catalyst for reform is important. This article documents the nature of how the implementation of a research-validated reform influenced what teachers thought…

Drawing on data collected during an evaluation of Indiana schools receiving Title I 1003(g) School Improvement Fund grants in the 2008-2009 school year, this article explores how professional development can be used to support school improvement efforts. This article upholds the conclusion that when activities support the development of a…

This article features the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program at the University of Memphis. The McNair program is named after Ronald E. McNair, the second African-American in space, who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986. Approximately 200 campuses across the nation host the program. Whereas the program…

Research on teaching and learning in TESOL has incorporated student opinions and student voices in a variety of ways. However, it is relatively rare to see studies that query students after they have exited a language program and can reflect more objectively on their experiences. The survey described in this article was sent to university second…

One stated purpose for the use of the edTPA is to guide teacher preparation program improvement (Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity, 2013). The Washington State Legislature included teacher preparation program reform on its agenda, and requested that the Professional Educator Standards Board identify ways in which the edTPA…

Tertiary education institutions are seen to be increasingly incorporating industrial attachment as a training methodology. This is happening with the private and public sectors. It is of the view that during the industrial attachment phase, the student is accorded an opportunity to marry theory learnt in the classroom with the real field of work.…

Students with disabilities are faced with overwhelming challenges as they transition from high school to postsecondary education, careers, and independent living. Legislation has mandated that schools provide services for students with disabilities to prepare them for these transitions into adult life (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,…

Could the labour market gender balance be improved by introducing new types of apprenticeship-trained workers? This article investigates what happened in the wake of the Norwegian VET programme for health and social care, a new approach introduced via the 1994 educational reform. By upgrading this traditionally female-dominated area of education,…

Building Assets Reducing Risks (BARR) is a social emotional model that achieves academic outcomes through combining use of real-time student data with proven relationship-building strategies and intensive teacher collaboration to prevent course failure. BARR is a recipient of US Department of Education "Investing in Innovation (i3)"…

The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement their states' new college- and career-readiness standards and aligned assessments, through professional learning. SREB researchers examined each state's major professional development efforts around its new standards in order to…

The purpose of this article is to examine the qualitative data gathered in a recent survey study of students who completed a prior learning assessment (PLA) portfolio online course in order to inform practice at institutions currently utilizing or considering such a course. PLA programs and system-wide initiatives are proliferating (Klein-Collins…

Quality control mechanism that allows long term improvements of a study field or a study program is necessary for good functioning of educational institution or department in actual nature of competitive universities' environment. This paper focuses on quality control mechanisms in general and more closely on professional study fields. The…

Higher education insiders trumpet the use of results for improvement as the most important part of the assessment cycle. Yet, at the same time, we acknowledge the rarity of improvement, especially at a program level. What are some reasons the most important phase of assessment occurs so infrequently? To seek answers, we investigated the "Use…